Cadeyrn sat in the bar of a tavern looking around at everyone. Most people avoided his gaze, and those who met it looked away after only a few seconds. This had caused a number of people to leave the tavern and everyone in the tavern was uneasy. Cadeyrn was deliberately scaring people off, as it allowed him to pick those who would be the most use to him in his journey back to Yangurra. To start off with, they would have to have few scruples, as the group would have to steal a ship. In addition to this, they would have to have nerves of steel to cross the king of the Anglic Empire, Alfred the Great.

Yawning, Cadeyrn made another check of the of the bar, causing the few nervous conversations that had started back up to cease. Deciding that there was no one who would suit his purposes in this tavern, Cadeyrn left for another one, this time in a seedier part of town.

On the way there, a gang of sailors saw Cadeyrn and decided that robbing Cadeyrn would be easy. After all, there were ten of them and only one of him.

"Oi, you there. Give us all your belongings or we'll kill you!"

Much to their surprise, the Cadeyrn laughed and drew his sword and dirk, their blades glinting in the faint moonlight. Growling, the leader of the sailors charged Cadeyrn, cutlass swinging. Cadeyrn blocked the swing with ease, turning the blade off to one side. Cadeyrn stepped forward with surprising speed and skewered the sailor on his dirk. Spinning around, Cadeyrn's Xiphos bit into the arm of a sailor who had been sneaking up behind him. The sailors all rushed Cadeyrn, yelling warcrys. Cadeyrn smiled grimly and became a blur of steel, killing all the sailors in under a minute.

Walking into another tavern, Cadeyrn finished bandaging his wounds with strips of cloth from the sailor's clothes. Ordering an ale, Cadeyrn began his process of glaring at everyone. Hopefully he would find some people this time. After all, the authorities would be looking for Cadeyrn by the morning.

A tall woman stood up and walked towards Cadeyrn. At first, Cadeyrn felt a wave of fear. Had the Hoplites tracked him to here? On second glance, though, Cadeyrn realised that it wasn't a Hoplite, but rather a woman native to the Anglic Empire. It appeared that she was going to confront him, and so Cadeyrn made sure that he could reach one of his throwing knives. He was very surprised when all the tall woman did was to sit down and stare at him.

Mentally, smiling to himself, Cadeyrn intensified his gaze, if that was possible. There was no way that this woman was going to outstare him. After all, Cadeyrn thought, he had outstared a Hoplite warrior before, something that few men could claim to hae done.

While keeping his gaze focused upon the strange woman, Cadeyrn tried to make an assesment of her. She was obviously bold, to come and hold his gaze. Prehaps she might just be the right sort of person to have along on the trip. Still, Cadeyrn would wait until she spoke before he revealled his plans.

With a scowl on her face, the young woman staggered to an empty seat near where another woman and a large man were starting an exchange of words. Teirra's nights had become a lot longer and more boring ever since the owners of the local taverns had put a limit on how much alcohol they would serve her so as to cut down on the number of bar-fights she would start. Hoping it would make the time go by faster, she swung a chair over, sat down backwards in it, and proceeded to butt in on the conversation.

"What's this about pirates?" she asked the large man directly, showing absolutely no reservations about the fact that she didn't even know who he was. "You been busy making this town more boring than it already is?"

"You seem accustomed to patching yourself up on the go, stranger. Admirable."

The strange woman looked back up into Cadeyrn's face.

"I presume you ran into one of these dreadful pirates, arrogant as they are; they think they could rob a lion of his mane if there were enough of them."

Cadeyrn gave a grim smile and replied in a voice that would not only leave the woman with no doubts about the truth of the statement , but also about the fact the Cadeyrn wasn't boasting.

"One? There must have been five or six. How else do you think I managed to get so many wounds? A single pirate, bah."

Another woman came and sat down at the table. Cadeyrn surveyed her with a practised eye. She was small, drunk, scarred and wore chainmail. This last factor surprised Cadeyrn. A person that short really shouldn't be able to wear heavy chainmail. Still, after all he'd been through, nothing could really surprise him.

"What's this about pirates?"

The woman looked directly into Cadeyrn's face, showing absolutely no fear. Cadeyrn returned the stare with one of his own.

"You been busy making this town more boring than it already is?"

Cadeyrn's eyebrow rose.

"If you mean by killing pirates, then yes. Do you have some problem with that?"

The throwing knife in Cadeyrn's belt moved a tiny bit as one of Cadeyrn's finger's touched it.

A strange figure walked in the door; ocvered in scales with draconian wings, feet, and tail. She sat at the bar. "One house ale, please." Her tail twitched like that of a cat, and her wings flexed a little now and then.

"Doesn't leave any for me. Not that they're worth my time anyway. Would'a just been busy work, really."

The woman laughed, as if she had made a joke. Cadeyrn really wasn't sure. This woman was obviously strong to be able to wear the chainmail, but could she be that skilled? Cadeyrn doubted that, but he held his peace. There was no point in making more enemies than possible.

"But ten of 'em, y' say?" she added. "Not bad."

Cadeyrn smiled slightly.

"There were only five or six."

The other woman now spoke up, a grin on her face.

"A man worth his salt. That can only mean one thing: you're not from around here are you?"

Cadeyrn's small smile vanished.

"No, I'm a long, long way from home. I can't get back now, all my men are dead and I can't get another ship."

The tall woman looked at both Cadeyrn and the shorter woman before asking if anyone wanted a drink.

"No thank you, I like to keep my wits completely about me."

This was true in part, Cadeyrn always tried to stay as sharp as possible. Still, at one time Cadeyrn would have agreed to at least three or four ales. Of course, that was before the expedition went wrong. Cadeyrn, however, expected that the short, mostly drunk woman would accept the offer. Prehaps then they could get back to business.

Then she heard the offer of a drink, so she turned to regard the offerer. Just as she was about to accept the offer as predicted, she thought about what the large man had said about being unable to return home. She returned her attention to him.

"Can't get back home?" she asked. "And you need a boat? Where you from, then?"

Teirra then looked back at the taller woman to respond.

"Thanks for the offer, but I can't be enjoyin' myself right after hearin' news of tragedy," she said apologetically.

The strange woman looked over to the woman who had just toseed a pure gold coin. SHe'd been idly listening to their converstion, but now was rather curious ot all of their whereabouts. She walked over to the table. "I couldn't help but overhearing that you're a fair distance from home. WHere are you from?" It could be noted that she didn't talk very loudly.

Everyone one seemed to want to know where Cadeyrn was from. A couple of men who were in the bar looked over at Cadeyrn with surprised expressions on their faces, as if they couldn't figure out why Cadeyrn was surrounded by women and they weren't. Considering what Cadeyrn had seen of the Anglic Isles, he wasn't surprised that they didn't have women hanging off them. Sighing and thinking, Cadeyrn decided to tell the women who had no gathered around him where he was actually from.

"I come from a land that's far away, further away than The Land of Silk. At first we thought that, apart from the Northern Islands and Hakung, we were the only people who lived in the world. Then the Anglic Empire came. I was one of many who were chosen to see what the Anglic Empire's inttentions really were."

Cadeyrn paused and studied the faces before him.

"The Anglic Empire is planning on invading. If I can't get back, then we're as good as dead. Unfortuanetly, my ship was sunk and my crew killed. I now have no way back."

Sighing and looking around him, Cadeyrn stood up.

"I'd better go. The watch'll probably be along soon and I don't want to get caught. Of course, you could always help me get a ship, if you really wanted to."

Cadeyrn really hated manipulating people for his own end, but it had to be done. If he couldn't reach Yangurra, they were done for.

As the prospect of something interesting to do loomed up before her, the haze over Teirra's mind suddenly lifted considerably and she began to look more serious. In actuality, she wasn't nearly as drunk as she had appeared to begin with. Normally, though, a drunken Teirra and a sober Teirra would have been hard to tell apart.

"I think I'll come along too," she said. "Never had much love for the Empire myself, either. And besides, I'll take a grand quest over stayin' around here any time."

Teirra strode out behind Cadeyrn. Her hands were already twitching for her axe and dagger, as she was hoping she could put them to use in leaving the Anglic Empire a fine farewell present. Not that she expected the king to value the well-being of a few sailors, but whoever owned the boat they were going to acquire would probably miss it.

She vanished down a dark alley, pulling out her punching dagger 'just in case'. After a few minutes jog, she found herself standing outside of a stable. She woke the stable boy and paid him, thanking him for taking care of her horse, Moon. She got to work saddling him, reining him, and putting the bit into place. In his stall lay her leather pack, bow, and quiver concealed under a large pile of hay. She pulled them out, attached the pack to the saddle, and slipped the quiver over her head, stowing away the unstrung bow. She led Moon out of the stable and mounted him looking at the now sleeping boy before digging her heels into the horse's ribs.

She rode to the docks, finding them fairly quiet in the moonlight. She looked around for the others, but did not see them yet. She waited.

Lenore's hand went to her side, where there lay a very powerful weapon. It seemed to be an ordinary great sword, but in fact, it was a sword with numerous layers of elemental enchantments. "Alright you two. I can provide you with better weapons than you have, or enhance your own very quickly." She spoke hushedly. "I am a runesmith, so with a few simple noncompromising marks, your weapons could be of much more use to you."

"Never dulling, elemental enchantments, ability of light with a spoken word...As I said, this is my buisness. I can put almost any enchantment you want on it." She glanced around, looking for guards then continued, "But, it's hard to layer a lot of them unless I'm making the sword from scratch." Her tail twitched anxiously.

Cadeyrn looked impatiently at the two women. He really needed to move, and didn't want too many people seeing them.

"How about continuing this discussion when we're on board the ship?"

Without waiting for an answer, Cadeyrn moved off once more, taking long strides that eat the ground up as if Cadeyrn were jogging instead of merely walking. When he arrived at the docks, Cadeyrn looked around before spotting Reid. Moving silently over to her, Cadeyrn asked,

Reid stood up in the stirrups, looking over at the bundle of ships at the docks. She thought she might have seen a ship from the Middle Sea. She dismounted her horse and approached Cadeyrn.

"I thought I could see one toward the end of the docks. I can't be too sure with the rest of the ships in the way and the darkness, but the sails had that look about them." Reid spoke quietly, holding Moon's reins in her hand. "What is your command?"

"I thought I could see one toward the end of the docks. I can't be too sure with the rest of the ships in the way and the darkness, but the sails had that look about them. What is your command?"

Cadeyn turned to look at the members of his small party. It seemed that all of them were armed with some kind of ranged weapon. This was good, as it mean that they would be able to take out all resistance quickly. Scanning the area, Cadeyrn strode towards the ship, his eyes confirming what he thought. Pulling off into a side alley, he turned to Reid, Lenore and Teirra.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Spread out in fan shape. After I give them an ulitmatetum, shoot anyone who moves towards a weapon of any kind."

The chances were that the entire crew were either slaves or conscripts, meaning that the only people who should move towards a weapon would be those loyal to the Anglic Empire. The others would probably welcome a chance to escape the clutches of the empire and so would join. If not, well, then they would find out exactly how powerful Cadeyrn's bow is.

After hearing the plan, Teirra nodded and moved to the edge of the alley. She saw a pile of crates near the targetted ship and decided that it would be a good position to snipe from. She moved toward it, staggering noticeably more than she had on the way to the docks, as if she had suddenly become intoxicated again. But as soon as she was near them, she suddenly ducked behind the crates, then drew and loaded her crossbow with absolute skill and precision, having a bolt ready to fire in an instant.

With a nod, Reid remounted Moon and jerked the reins over to where he would stand on the other side of Cadeyrn, forming the fan-shape he specified. She pulled her un-strung bow out of her quiver, quickly strung it and held a poisoned arrow at the ready.

As the members of his party spread out, Cadeyrn drew an arrow from his quiver and notched it on his bowstring, not having needed to string it, as his bow would never go out of shape. Stepping out into the open, Cadeyrn yelled his challenge to the men of the ship in front.

"I give you two choices. Life and freedom from the Anglic Empire or death right now."

One man hastily moved to pick up his bow, but found that Cadeyrn was very fast. The arrow thundered out from the half drawn bow and smacked into the man. Four more men moved to pick up various weapons. Cadeyrn drew his bow fully and shot one, the arrow going clean through him. The other three were dropped by the members of Cadeyrn's party. A voice floated up from the hold.

"If you unchain us, the we will follow you."

Caderyn lept up onto the ships deck and searched the bodies for keys. After finding them, Cadeyrn went down to where the slaves were chained to the oars and unlocked all the shackles.

"We set sail at once."

There was a flurry of activity as the former slaves worked out who was going to row and who was going to steer the boat. Cadeyrn went back up on deck and smiled at the rest of his group.

With only one shot from each attacker, the boat had been taken. Teirra didn't find it entirely satisfying, but at it had gone over smoothly. Quickly, she rushed up onto the deck behind Cadeyrn. Finding the body of the man she had put down, she retrieved her bolt, wiped it off on his clothing, and returned it to her quiver.

"I won't miss the place for a moment," she replied to Cadeyrn's declaration.

Reid was satisfied with the turn of events. She was pleased with having been able to help Cadeyrn and was fascinated with what lay beyond the surrounding waters in this country she'd never heard of. She put her bow away and dismounted Moon. Holding his reins, she walked up to Cadeyrn. The horse playfully nudged Cadeyrn on the shoulder; this was the command of "scratch my ears".

"You have your boat, Cahir. I'd like to join you on the voyage, but," she looked over at Moon and rubbed his nose, "I can't leave my friend behind. If there were room on the ship..."

Cadeyrn looked thoughfully at the ship before him. It seemed to be a cross between a transport ship and a warship. Yes, he was sure that it could hold a horse.

"I believe that there is room for a horse."

Motioning to a sailor, Cadeyrn asked him to take Reid and her horse below and secure the horse. The sailor looked at Reid in a way that told Cadeyrn that he would give Reid a little trouble. However, he wasn't undually concerned, as Reid seemed to be able to take care of herself.

After everyone had boarded, they cast off and managed to get out of the harbour without too much diffuculty. How long this luck would last, Cadeyrn had no idea.

Teirra paced the deck until the ship was out of harbor, both to keep an eye out for trouble and in hopes of getting used to the feel of a moving boat. Once they were out of the harbor and apparently safe for the moment, she set to work collecting the four dead bodies, stripping them of their weapons and the arrows that had killed them, and tossing them overboard. She did this without seeming to show any signs of revulsion at the work or any reservation about discarding the bodies without ceremony.

With a smile and an appreciative nod to Cadeyrn, she followed the angsty sailor below deck.

Finding a good spot for Moon to stay for now, Reid stroked the horse's neck as the ship floated out to sea. She removed the saddle, reins, and bit and pulled a brush from her pack to use on his coat. Once he was settled, she went back to the top deck and leaned on a railing, looking out at the water.

Lenore lamented the uncerimonious disposal of the bodies. Not for the obvious reasons, but rather because bodies were incredibly useful in her trade. It could now be noticed that she had a bandolier of what seemed to be bells across her chest that didn't seem to be there before. She walked to the rail and watched the bodies float away from the ship. A hand rested on Kibeth, the Walker, then dropped to her side.

Cadeyrn groaned as he saw the three ships before him. They were massive warships, and, what was more, they were armed with the Anglic Empire's latest weapon. They were almost within cannon range, and in another minute they would be within catapult range. It was time to scare the sailors.

Grabbing a indecentary arrow from one of the sailors, Cadeyrn lit it, aimed it at one of the ccanon ports and released it. The arrow sailed the seven hundred metres between the the two ships, disappearing through the cannon port. Cadeyrn was already lining up another shot and within ten seconds had fired five more arrows, two per ship.

Suddenly, there was an explosion as the cannon on board all three ships fired at the small ship. The closest fired grape shot, whilst the other two used chain shot. The chains destroyed the mast and the rope that held the shape of the prow, whilst the grapeshot peppered the deck and killed almost all the rowing slaves on one side of the ship.

Cadeyrn, sho had ducked the chains stood. His seeminly leather armour showed where the leaden balls had hit it, and half a dozen or so scales had been warped. Firing his bow once more, Cadeyrn scored such a lucky hit that he couldn't believe it. There was a series of small explosions on board the closest ship, before a massive one that blew the ship right out of the water.

The two remaining ships fired again and opened a massive hole in the side of the small ship, just above the water line. It was only a matter of time before they were sunk.